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1983 – The Campbell Estate

The Estate of James Campbell helped to shift AMB’s early focus from real estate consulting to investment management.

James Campbell was one of the largest landowners in Hawaii upon his death in 1900.

Like any promising young real estate investment company, Prologis legacy company AMB needed an infusion of capital and trust—an opportunity to earn the business of a well-respected client and then exceed expectations. For us, that game-changing client was the Estate of James Campbell in Hawaii.

Doug Abbey and Hamid Moghadam, two of AMB’s founders, had worked with Herb Cornuelle, a trustee of the estate, researching how to increase returns on its $1 billion in Hawaiian real estate holdings, which offered extraordinary value on paper but produced few earnings.

Moghadam and Abbey found a stable revenue stream for trustees by outlining a strategy for trading some of the estate’s island properties for income-producing assets on the mainland via tax-deferred exchanges.
When Cornuelle learned that Moghadam and Abbey had struck out on their own, he decided to visit them in San Francisco. The towering 6-foot, 4-inch Ohio native surveyed the converted law-firm space on the 35th floor of the Embarcadero Center, checking to ensure the firm was bona fide.

“Seems like a real business; you have real offices,” Cornuelle said in his typical laconic style. “Well, then, I already know you are good guys and will do a good job for us. You’re hired.

With Japanese real estate investors engaged in an acquisitions frenzy, especially in Hawaii, the plan was to sell more of Campbell’s Hawaiian holdings—some $60 million—to the Japanese and redeploy those funds into a broad pool of real estate opportunities in the continental U.S.

At the time, research was the main job. However, Moghadam, sensing an opportunity to shift the firm’s focus from pure research into investment management, asked Cornuelle for a shot at investing the $60 million in holdings, as well.

It was a bold move, but it paid off. Within just 90 days, lucrative properties from Seattle to Dallas were acquired on behalf of the estate.

Over the next several years, AMB invested $400 to $500 million for the Campbell Estate, solidifying a partnership that would continue through 1990. Equally important, the relationship marked a shift in the company’s orientation, from a skilled consulting operation to an investment management company that had the skill and credentials to be a player in the investment management arena.